Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1365400
The analytics capability and the platform need to service both types of customers— if their needs are not met then the analytics effort will not deliver the business value. Therefore, it is critical to have a mechanism to capture the needs of these two types of customers across a potentially very large and diverse set of business units and personas. Some organizations set up advisory boards or work with a few key stakeholders to drive the need. There is no single correct answer, but having a mechanism to capture the voice of the customer(s) and prioritizing their needs is critical. Rethink the COE An analytics COE services and presents a specialized set of cloud services focused on meeting analytics needs. In the past, reporting and BI organizations often provided one solution to fit everyone's needs (a one-size-fits-all strategy). In this era of rapidly evolving technologies in big data, rich visualizations, automated decision making, artificial intelligence, and machine learning it's just not possible to have a single technology stack. It's not just about having the latest tools in the belt; it's about making it easy for your customers (producers or consumers) to get what they need. COEs run the risk of becoming concierge services. That can be fine for certain types of requests, but the COE can quickly get overwhelmed and backlogged with requests if there's no scalable, self-service mechanisms and transparent prioritization and governance processes in place. Analytics COEs need to engineer and architect a self- service, secure, operable, and scalable data platform with an ever-evolving ecosystem of technologies to process, analyze, and present insights. While becoming a data-driven organization won't happen overnight, pinpointing your data challenges, organizing a plan for how you will serve your customers, and empowering your teams to deliver the right value at the right time are steps in the right direction. About the Author Joe Chung is an Enterprise Strategist and Evangelist with Amazon Web Services.